Hensarling Votes to Keep IRS Out of Health Care

Released by the office of U.S. Congressman Jeb Hensarling

WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), a leading conservative and Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement upon passage of the Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act (H.R. 2009), a bill Hensarling co-sponsored that prevents the IRS from implementing or enforcing any part of Obamacare.

“The Internal Revenue Service, the same agency which has confessed to using government resources to investigate and harass political opponents of the president, is the very agency the president plans to give the power to oversee Obamacare. If this is what they do with tax applications, what will the IRS do with our personal health records?

“After learning how the IRS has been treating taxpayers, the American people are rightly concerned with how they will treat patients. We cannot allow this government agency – which has already trampled on our most sacred right of free speech – to interfere in our personal health care decisions. That is why I was proud to support today’s bill to prevent the IRS from implementing or enforcing Obamacare.

”The majority of Americans agree that Obamacare will have a detrimental impact on our health care, our economy, and our national debt, so it came as no surprise this week when the acting chief of the IRS said he – and the majority of IRS employees – would rather stay with his current plan than switch to Obamacare. House Republicans have voted nearly 40 times to defund, repeal, and replace the law in part of in full.

“Moving forward, House Republicans should continue to use every opportunity to stop Obamacare - through measures like today’s vote, the debt limit debate in the fall, or through the appropriations funding process including a potential continuing resolution bill. I have encouraged House Republican Leadership to use all means possible to get rid of this harmful government takeover of our healthcare system. I will never stop working to enact common-sense measures to ensure that every American has the opportunity for patient-centered health care that is affordable, portable, and of high quality so that no debilitating illness will be ever be able to wipe out a lifetime of savings.”